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| worth a try... |
It’s a work I’m progress, this rendering the world…
We just passed the summer solstice, the longest day of the year. Three months (officially) of summer left, but the days already getting shorter.
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| Make Music New York |
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| Greenwich Village |
Every year on June 21st is Make Music New York Day with live concerts going on all over the city. Last year, in the midst if the pandemic, I did a “window” concert right here on 115th. This year, my friend Steve and I perform in a pocket garden on Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village around the corner from the Bitter End. The retired volunteers running the garden are form out generation so we give then a generous dose of ’70’s covers. There’s a certain serenity to this space filled with blossoming flowers in the midst of the Village.
*****
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| the last Lockdown |
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| Grateful Distancing Stay at Home Tour 2020 |
Thursday is my last “Lockdown Showcase.” I’ve done 10 now, although this is the first of this year. Called it the Grateful Distancing Stay at Home Tour of 2020. We had a get out the vote show, This darkness has got to give.., and my overall commitment, we will get by, we will survive. A true all star gathering of friends, some live. Numbers are down, I try not to feel unloved. More and more I believe we are just done with virtual life. Happy to have shared this night with my friends.
*****
Citi Field. Phillies-Yankees. That increasingly rare “single admission” doubleheader, only virtue of covid rules, seven inning games. I watch as Phillies Aaron Nola quietly strikes out 10 batters in a row, tying Tom Seaver’s 50 year old record.
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| at the ball game |
In front of me are about two dozen young adult Korean American families with their children. I’m guessing as I overhear conversations all second generation at least. Several guys are wearing hats and jerseys from a softball (?) team, the Saints. With the little kids, shared food, it’s a warm scene. I wish I were part of it.
Here’s the thing..in these days of anti-Asian violence, here are these Americans. Born and raised in Queens. Ball players. Queens inflection. Mets fans. Americans. For as screwed up as we are, this too is who we are, a people of peoples from all over the world. At home. Here. On this baseball sunny afternoon, this feels good.
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Last year Mike and Ariela married in the midst of the pandemic, A year later, they gather their friends on a roof top under the bridge in Williamsburg to celebrate. Some guests are still anxious: but have you had both vaccinations? .....Slowly finding our way forward…
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| on the ferry |
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| playing with Nick |
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| playing with Lizzie and Steve |
Take the ferry across to Governors’ Island for the annual Porch Stomp Festival. Last year, they postponed the festival until October. Everyone on the island had to be masked. Every performer with a special bandana. This year, masks on the ferry but it’s all but normal on the island. Everyone’s talking about what we’ve lived through. Where we’re headed. I’m just happy to be playing with friends. In the middle of may last set, a cloudburst arrives. We play through, a mini Woodstock moment.
Step by step we are coming out…
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